Operations Report – January 1st

Notes on non-nominal systems: Generator system limping along with a now-nominal routine.

Generator (hours run): 25h 30min

Solar— SOC

@ 9:50am : 61%

@ 5:10pm : 100%

Diesel: 70%

Propane: 40%

Ethanol Free Gasoline (5 Gallon containers for ATV): 0 Gallons

Water (trailer): 10 Gallons

Water (static): Gallons

Trailer to Static Pump used: No

Water (loft) – Static to Loft Pump used: Yes

Water Meter: 128894.7 Gallons

Toilet tank emptied: Yes

ATVs Used: 350.1, 350.2

Oil Added? Yes

ATV Fuel Used: 0.1 Gallons

# Hours the ATVs were used today: 01:00 hours

Notes on ATVs: ATVs were nominal. They all need an oil change, especially the Yamaha 300, because the oil during my check was quite dirty and black. All got some oil added to them except the 300.

Today I went on an Engineering round to do a quick inspection of the ATVs: checked the oil and fuel levels, attempted to check tire pressure, and did a visual tire inspection. All results were nominal and nothing unexpected; however, I considered the quick inspection my due diligence as an Engineer on their first day! It was kind of entertaining for me anyway. Oil levels were about half-way so I added some from our stores (plenty of bottles of oil in the EVA storage room). I wanted to check the tire pressures, but unfortunately the little pen gauge is inoperational and the air compressor has a gauge without enough detail for me to get an accurate reading. All the tires seem in great condition though, and I looked for possible damage to the tire walls from going over a bad bump or something out here, too. Lookin’ good!

Deimos rover used: No

Hours: 96.4

Beginning charge: 100%

Ending charge:

Currently charging: Yes

Sojourner rover used: Assigned to director only.

Hours: 4.9

Beginning charge:

Ending charge:

Currently charging: Yes

Spirit rover used: Yes

Hours: 6.8

Beginning charge: 100%

Ending charge:

Currently charging: Yes

Opportunity rover used: No

Hours: 4.3

Beginning charge: 100%

Ending charge:

Currently charging: No

Curiosity rover used: No

Hours: 4.6

Beginning charge: 100%

Ending charge:

Currently charging: Yes

HabCar used and why, where? No

General notes and comments:

Sol 0 and as the Crew Engineer, I went around the hab for my checks while also looking things over to create a To Do list for my couple weeks here. Toilet got emptied (such fun), ATVs got a quick
inspection, and the front window replacement and back-up generator relocation was fit into the end of our EVA. I got confirmation from Shannon that we could try hooking up power to the RAM using the little back-up generator, so two crew were very helpful in wheeling it through the sand over there. We’ll just wait on the 30A cable to be delivered in a resupply mission soon, along with tools for the RAM! Yay! Finally, I also gave a little engineering brief to the crew–what to expect while they’re here with things like doors that don’t work properly and staying away from the power system and helping me record rover runtime hours.

A notable thing did happen today in that the generator failed sometime this morning. I’m not entirely sure what time, because the clock is not correct on it. Unfortunately, this means that I lost the runtime hours, too, so I can’t be sure how long it has been on. Fortunately, the Solar SOC showed 61% at that time, which is above our limit for concern. We are guessing that the battery died and that’s all. Because yesterday was cloudy and today might have been too, I left the generator on all day today but replaced the old battery with a new one. I switched the batteries again this evening, so now the new one is charging.

Summary of internet: All nominal

Summary of suits and radios: All nominal

Summary of Hab operations: All nominal

Summary of GreenHab operations: All nominal

Summary of ScienceDome operations: All nominal

Summary of RAM operations: Not Operational

Summary of health and safety issues: Crew is Healthy

Questions, concerns and requests to Mission Support: ATVs need an oil change soon, please. Also for my reports, I requested a switch to my gmail because I believe this email server is adding additional spaces to my reports for some reason. Sorry about that!

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About The MDRS

The Mars Desert Research Station in the Utah desert was established by the Mars Society in 2001 to better educate researchers, students and the general public about how humans can survive on the Red Planet. It is the second Mars analogue habitat after the Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station was established in 2000.

Over 181 crews of six-person teams have lived in two week field visits at MDRS to simulate life on the Martian surface. Researchers and students alike have explored the Mars-like terrain in the area surrounding the station in full “spacesuits”, maintained the station’s systems, grown plants in the GreenHab to support themselves and even recycled their waste water.

Our activities at MDRS are not only about informing the public, but also conducting real research to bring humanity that much closer to the reality of human exploration on the planet Mars.

Annual field seasons at MDRS run approx. October through May. Anybody can apply to be on a crew, and we also need volunteers to help with the project.